Pandemonium
(CNe)
<>
Pandemonium
(CNe)
<>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
Pandemonium is an underground realm, a
great mass of matter
pierced by innumerable tunnels carved
by the howling winds
of the plane. It is the plane of Chaos
tinged by evil, in many ways
the opposite of Gladsheim. Whereas the
realm of the Norse
powers consists of great spaces of air
spanned by huge earthen
rivers, the lands of Pandemonium are huge
dark caverns filled
with continual wind. Gravity is always
away from the center of the cave,
so the traveller can walk on the walls,
floors, and ceiling of a
cavern with equal ease. Rivers flow along
the cave floor or
straight down the middle of the cavern
through the air.
Three wprds describe
the four layers of Pandemonium: windy,
noisy, and dark.
The plane of Pandemonium has not constant
sources of {light}. Normal fires are quickly
xtinguished by the
wind. A {light} that lasts for any length
of time is seen for miles in
the open tunnels, attracting those creatures
that can normally see
in the dark.
Infravision functions, but the spirits of the underworld
radiate no heat, so they cannot be detected
in this fashion.
The name Pandemonium
is used as a by-word for thunderous
nosie, as every word, scream, or shout
is caught by the strong wind
and flung through all the layers of the
plane. Conversation
can only be accomplished by SHOUTING,
and that is ineffectiv
beyond 10'. Spells that rely on sound
reaching a TARGET (holy word,
the power words, and SHOUT for
example) do NOT function
beyond 10'. Those whose ears are unprotected
are rendered
temporarily deaf after xposure for <one>
round, and permanently
deaf after xposure for <one> TURN.
Ear plugs || similar devices
negate this effect, but the noise is still
mind-shattering.
Finally, the
huge caverns (hundreds of miles across and high)
are filled with continual wind, which
at its lowest point tugs at the
clothing as a strong breeze and at its
highest (10% chance per 10
turns) can lift up to 100 lbs. in the
air and carry it for 1d6 miles
(damage on landing is 4d6, subject to
modifications for the terrain
in the landing AREA). Native creatures
are immune to this effect.
The layers of Pandemonium
are four in #.
There is a gradual change in conditions
from layer to layer.
is the topmost and most habitable layer
of Pandemonium.
It is here that the Styx winds, fed by
innumerable streams that
trickle through the rocky wastes.
The caverns are largest here, spanning
thousands of miles in width,
and the wind
and noise are as described above.
Most of the natives and Deities known
to exist in this plane live in these tunnels.
What great cities && citadels
exist in this plane are found on Pandesmos.
Cocytus, the layer of lamentation, has
smaller tunnels and the
wind that whistles through them has the
sounds of cries and sorrows.
The noise is shriller in the layer of
Cocytus, so that those
who are exposed to it for a single turn
must save vs. spell or be
insane
for 10d10 turns. Unlike the (dry) natural
tunnels of Pandesmos,
the tunnels of Cocytus appear carved,
and there are marks
of tools and chisels throughout its length.
Who or what created
these tunnels is not known even by the
gods.
is the layer of darkness. Its very walls
are a dull
ebon black that swallows light and reflects
nothing. All forms
of light, regardless of source, have their
radii of illumination
halved here. Abilities such as infravision
fail as well in this layer.
Phelgethon is a wet place, with numerous
rivers and streams and
all forms of sedimentary formations (stalagmites,
stalactites, and
curtains, for example) spring from the
black
rock.
4. AGATHION
is the deepest of the known layers of
Pandemonium.
It is without tunnels. Instead, the plane
is solid rock dotted by
great spherical bubbles. In those bubbles
that have barriers
to the next layer, the wind swirls in
circles, forming massive wind-storms
capable of flinging creatures of up to
400 pounds in
weight around for 1d6 points of damage
per round. Those that
do not have barriers are worse, however,
for they are filled
with stale air or vacuum (50% chance of
each) and are often the final
resting places of monsters that the powers
themselves do not wish
awakened.
The barriers between
the layers are unmarked but usu.
indentifiable by the wind, which can pass
between the layers w/
ease. A dead-end passage w/ a strong wind
indicates a barrier
somewhere within that passage. The wind
ccan carry flying (or
unfastened) items between the planes.
The portals uppermost
layers of Pandemonium lead to
Limbo, the topmost layer of the Abyss,
and Concordant Opposition.
These portals are always flat squares
in the sides of the
caverns. Yellow
squares usu. lead to Limbo, red to the Abyss,
and black to Concordant
Opposition. There is a 20% chance,
however, that a traveller passing through
a portal will end up on
one of the other 2wo planes instead (50%
chance for each).
Pandemonium has no known
native life; the beings that live
here are usu. immigrants, exiles, or marooned
creatures from
other planes. Most of the various non-name
demons make their
homes here, and the occasional demon-lord-in-exile
has a hiding
place in the realms.
Quasits && shadow demons are found in
abundance, but again, they are not natives
to the plane.
Of the Deities of Pandemonium,
one is a temporary visitor as
well. Loki of the Norse pantheon uses
part of the upper layer for
his Hidden Realm,
where he works on his magery and plots far
from the prying eyes of his fellow gods.
Loki's Hidden Realm can
be spotted for miles, for it is a
glittering palace of white crystal
that pierces the darkness of the plane
and illuminates a thousand
miles about itself. Loki is served in
his palace by evil einheriar. He
refers to his realm
as the anti-podes of Valhalla. The traveller
drawn by the {light} should be
warned that within Pandemonium
more of Loki's true evil nature comes
forth, unrestrained by the
presence of the REST of his pantheon.
In the heart of Loki's realm is
a portal that skips over Limbo
entirely and reaches to somewhere
in Jotenheim in the plane of Gladsheim.
Tuonela, the realm
of Tuonetar and Tuoni, gods of the Finnish
underworld, is ringed by the river Manala,
which flows into the
Styx. The waters of the Manata are crimson
with black swells of
wave. Those who drink || touch it are
drained of desire, so that
they can neither FIGHT, eat, nor see purpose
in life. Those so
afflicted waste away and perish (a successful
save
negates this, as does a remove curse).
Tuonela is a grim realm of
those living && dead who have
drunk of the Manala's water,
ruled from a great
black house where Tuonetar and Tuoni live,
occasionally hosting their many daughters,
who include Kiputytto
of Tarterus and Loviatar of Gehenna.
Anshar, the Babylonian
god of dark and night, was once the
supreme deity of the Babylonian (and some
add the Sumerian)
mythos, yet gave his power to Anu (and
Enlil) and passed into
retirement. Anshar's estate in Pandemonium
is a great city
between walls that {run} the entire circumference
of its cave. It is
topped by a great citadel whose tip reaches
the center of the cavern
itself. Anshar is served by spirits of
the most ancient type,
dressed in archaic clothing and speaking
tongues now dead &&
buried, but similar in description to
Anu's warriors from Nirvana.
There is a lesser god
of Pandemonium, Hruggek of the Bugbears,
who makes his abode in a great fortres
where one tunnel
of wind spills into another, larger
tunnel of wind. Hruggek's realm is
decorated w/ the grisly trophies of those
who have intruded.
He is served by the spirits of those bugbears
that were sufficiently
merciless enough to qualify as his servants.
Hruggek's
bugbear servants are the equivalents of
bugbear chiefs from the MM <link to bugbear chief statblock>
SAVE that, being spirits, they are immune
to
enchantment && charm magick.
*template***template*